


I'll Look After You

by SociallyAcceptableSchizophrenia



Category: The Outsiders (1983), The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: M/M, Series, alternative ending, dally loves johnny, johnny and dally live, johnny goes to jail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28395408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SociallyAcceptableSchizophrenia/pseuds/SociallyAcceptableSchizophrenia
Summary: What if the church hadn't caught fire? What if Johnny had turned himself in?  What if he got sent to jail and only Dally could save him?
Relationships: Johnny Cade/Dallas Winston
Kudos: 27





	I'll Look After You

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter one of a series. This chapter contains foul language but otherwise no warnings apply. As the story goes there will be more warnings and eventually a male/male relationship. Obviously I am not SE Hinton. I own none of these characters and I am making no profit from this story. I love critique so please feel free! 
> 
> Special thank you to my sister for editing this story and my girlfriend for going down the SE Hinton rabbit hole with me.

“We’ll walk from here,” Johnny said with a nod. He hoped his voice wasn’t shaking as much as his hands. Dally pulled the car to the side of the road, still 2 miles outside of town, and turned off the engine. He turned to face Johnny and noticed his hands shaking as he reached for the door handle. Dally put his hand gently on Johnny’s shoulder hoping to calm him and show him with a gesture what he couldn’t actually say. Especially not with Ponyboy in the backseat. 

“Johnny, man… it’s not too late to change your mind,” he pleaded. Ever since Johnny proclaimed he was going to go back and turn himself in, Dally had been trying to change his mind. Despite his efforts and several noble efforts by Ponyboy, Johnny was determined to do this. Part of him wanted to put Ponyboy out right here and just drive off with Johnny, take him someplace safe. 

“It’s the right thing to do,” Johnny said, keeping his eyes on the door. He felt the warmth of Dally’s hand and knew he might change his mind if he looked back and met Dally’s eyes. With a deep breath Johnny stepped out of the car. Only once he was out, did Ponyboy get out as well. Had Johnny changed his mind, Pony would have gone back to that church without argument. He desperately wanted to go back home but not at the expense of his best friend. 

“Thanks for everything, Dal,” Johnny said with a little forced smile before closing the door. Dally hated leaving them like this. Despite knowing it was stupid, he would have driven them straight to the police station and walked in with them. Of course, neither Johnny nor Pony was willing to let him do that, not after all the risk he’d already taken to help them. 

He kept looking back in the rear-view mirror until he’d gone too far, and they faded from sight. He ran his fingers through his hair and hit the steering wheel. “Fuck,” he muttered out loud to the now empty car. He knew Johnny wouldn’t survive jail. Well sure physically he’d survive it, he’d learned how to take a punch a long time ago from his parents, but the Johnny that Dally loved would be changed. Hardened, much like Dally himself. 

Hell, maybe Johnny would finally catch a break and they’d let him off and see it was purely self-defense. But luck was never on Johnny Cade’s side. Days turned to weeks, then more than a month, waiting to see Johnny again. The first time Dally did catch a glimpse of him was at the trial. Dally sat on a bench in the courtroom, between Two-Bit and Soda, as they listened to the words “guilty” and “manslaughter”. In a second Dally was on his feet. “That is horseshit!” he said loudly and looked at Johnny whose eyes already looked changed just from the six weeks he’d been in jail waiting for the trial. 

The judge was saying something to him, but he couldn’t focus on the words. He couldn’t take his eyes away from Johnny’s. “Dal,” Soda’s voice in his ear finally got through. “Sit down or they’ll take you to jail too.” It took Soda and Two Bit both to push Dally back down into his seat. The judge took into account the fact it was self-defense and that Johnny had no prior criminal record. Had they not ran, it was likely Johnny would have gotten community service. 

Until the day he died, Dally would blame himself for that one. One glance over at Ponyboy, who had already faced his own trial and been found not guilty, told Dally he wasn’t the only one that would always live with regrets. Johnny was removed from the court room to be taken to jail to serve his two-year sentence. Two years… The group of friends walked out of the court room as silent as a funeral procession. Tears rolled silently down Pony’s cheeks. Dally wrapped his arm around Pony’s shoulders as they moved out to the parking lot. 

“There’s gotta be somethin’ we can do,” Pony said. He looked to his brother, Darryl. “He was saving me…” his voice broke and more tears fell. 

Darry gently brushed his brother’s cheek, “You know there ain’t, little buddy. But we’re gonna visit Johnny every chance we get and when he gets out he’s gonna come stay with us.” Dally hadn’t heard that mentioned before and wasn’t sure if Darry just made that decision to make Pony feel better or if it was something he planned. Either way, it slowed Pony’s tears. 

“Maybe if someone had talked ya’ll out of running…” Steve said under his breath. He immediately regretted it when Dally turned to him with the most terrifying look he’d ever seen on anyone’s face. 

“You think I don’t already feel like shit!?” Dally snapped at him. “Fuck!” He pulled out a cigarette to have something to do with his hands that wasn’t wrapping them around Steve’s neck. Without another word Dally started walking away from the group. 

“Dal,” Soda called out. “Come back. He didn’t mean it like that.” 

“Bullshit,” Dally muttered to himself as he walked further away, not having the slightest clue where he was going. The events of the day kept replaying on an endless loop in his head. “Sit down or they’ll take you to jail too,” he heard Soda’s voice. It was immediately followed by Pony’s, “…there’s gotta be somethin’ we can do.” 

Dally stopped dead in his tracks. There was something he could do. One way he could protect Johnny. And he knew he had to do it. He owed it to the kid. He had to get thrown in jail too.


End file.
